The boggart of Albus Severus Potter
by The Paper Princess
Summary: When Harry returns to Hogwarts to teach the third year DADA lesson on boggarts, he is more than just a little bit shocked about his son's boggart. Albus Severus Potter and his friends need to face their greatest fears in order to overcome them… Lots of Harry/Albus bonding, includes Rose Granger-Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy, one-shot


**The boggart of Albus Severus Potter**

_„__Harry Potter is coming to teach our next DADA lesson." _

_"__The real one? **The **Harry Potter?"_

When Albus had first heard the rumors, he had refused to believe them. It made sense of course. After all, his dad was not only a very capable wizard and the Head of the Auror Department of the Ministry of Magic, he was also Harry Potter- The Boy Who Lived.

Albus had long accepted his father's past and the role he had played in defeating the most evil wizard that the world had ever seen. He had made peace with his family's standing in the wizarding world- at least that's what he tried to tell himself, every time an old friend of his parents pointed out one of the countless similarities between Harry and his youngest son. It was what he told himself, whenever a reporter would follow him and his siblings around, when they would go to Diagon Alley and it's what he kept telling Scorpius, whenever they were alone in the dormitory they shared with three other Slytherin boys and talked about their fathers' reputations and the pressure that came with them.

A small part of Albus had even convinced himself that it was all true- and really, it partially was. Two and a half years of being in Slytherin house had taught Albus many valuable lessons. Most importantly, he had learned to take what he perceived as his weaknesses and turn them into strengths.

11-year old Albus had felt overwhelmed by what the wizarding world expected of him. 13-year old Albus felt almost numb as his feet carried him into the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom on a Thursday afternoon. In this very moment, it didn't matter what his teachers had ever said about him, it didn't matter what the other students whispered behind his back or what the rest of the world thought of him- now, all that mattered was what his father thought of him.

Albus felt a warm, comforting hand on this shoulder and flinched, startled by the unexpected touch, but it was just Scorpius.

"You okay?" he asked quietly, while gently pushing Albus who had- without consciously doing so- remained at the threshold for the better part of a minute and was now hindering the rest of the class from entering the room.

Albus stepped forward, allowing the wave of chattering students to pass him, before following Scorpius to their usual seats in the very back of the classroom.

He took a deep breath in an attempt to steady his nerves. _Boggarts_. Why on earth did his father have to come here to teach this specific lesson? For the past few days, Albus had been lying awake at night, trying to figure out what shape his boggart might take. The first fears that had crossed his mind were normal fears that every boy his age would have. When he had closed his eyes, he had seen his family members, lying dead on the ground in front of him, their eyes empty and their clothes full with their own blood.

He had let his thoughts wander further, into the deepest layers of his mind. One fear, he noticed, seemed to appear in various forms: _failure_

But failure alone wasn't what his greatest fear consisted of, he knew that much;

Albus was pulled out of his thoughts by a stinging pain in his side. Scorpius had elbowed him and Albus realized, with increasing anxiety, that his father had stepped into the room and was now making his way to the front of the classroom.

The murmur died at an instant and roughly twenty pairs of eyes were focused on Harry.

Albus was astounded, when he noticed that his father, who had always seemed so calm and collected when talking or advising big groups of people, looked like he was at a loss of words for a moment and that he had to take a split second to take a deep breath- much like Albus had done only a couple of minutes ago- before he eventually started speaking.

"Do you think that we'll all have to give it a go?" Scorpius asked in a low voice "The spell I mean,"

Albus contemplated this for a moment. Would his dad force any of them to face their greatest fears in front of their class mates? Should he just ask his father to be excused from the lesson?

_No_. Albus thought. _It's bad enough that I am not in Gryffindor, I need to at least face up to my fears..._

"Don't know," he said, turning to Scorpius. Only now, he realized that his best friend looked even paler than usual and that his breathing in fact sounded a little hollow. Did Scorpius already know what his boggart would turn into or was he in the same situation as Albus?

"It'll be okay." Albus said absentmindedly, even though he needed the reassurance as much or probably even more than Scorpius seemed to need it.

"Remember," Harry's voice came from the front of the classroom, "it needs to be funny!"

Albus swallowed. Everyone around him was getting up and his father started to magically move all desks to the back of the classroom. Slowly, he got up as well and followed Scorpius to the center of the room, where all the students were trying to form a queue. He barely paid attention, as his father repeated the incantation one last time. The pronunciation and the wand movement wouldn't be his problem. The Slytherin common room as well as the Potter family's house was full with books concerning the dark arts and books about how to fight them. Albus and Scorpius- like the rest of the Slytherins in their year- had already studied the DADA course books up until year 4.

His father released the boggart from a cabinet that he had brought with him, and the first student- a Gryffindor girl named Elara Webster- was now faced with a realistic- looking, though considerably smaller, version of a Swedish Short-Snout. Elara took a few steps back, as did the rest of the class, before pointing her wand at the dragon.

"Riddikulus!" she shouted, her voice strong and powerful.

The dragon opened his mouth, undoubtedly to spit fire, but all that came out was a mass of pink glitter and a few very pitiful choking noises. Laughter erupted in the classroom and even Albus had to bite back a smirk. Elara returned to the back of the room-looking extremely pleased with herself- and Harry gave her an approving nod, before gesturing for the next student- a Slytherin- to step forward.

Tabitha Nott may not look like a huge threat at first sight, but Albus knew from first-hand experience that the short, brown-haired girl was advanced beyond her years when it came to all things involving DADA.

In a matter of seconds, she had defeated her boggart- a rather huge and ugly troll- and had followed Elara, who was now sitting on top of one of the desks that Harry had moved at the beginning of the lesson, to the back, as if this was all she had been doing for the entirety of her young life.

Albus cast another look at his father- he seemed quite impressed by the two girls' performances, and Albus could have sworn that Harry caught Albus looking at him out of the corner of his eye and offered his son a reassuring, yet barely noticeable, smile.

Scorpius was next in the line. His wand arm was shaking slightly, as the boggart began changing its shape into... _Scorpius_?

Albus rubbed his eyes, convinced that they must have been tricking him, but as he opened them again, boggart-Scorpius was still standing in front of the real-life Scorpius. One thing was different though. The boggart version of his best friend seemed older- maybe in his late teens- and there, on the inside of his lower arm, was the dark mark.

"Riddikulus!" Scorpius stuttered, and even though his voice did not carry the same amount of force or authority Tabitha's had carried, it was enough to make boggart-Scorpius wipe away the- apparently drawn on makeup – version of Voldemort's sign on his arm. Nobody laughed or even smiled. The charm seemed weaker than the ones cast by the girls, and yet it worked and Scorpius disappeared from the front of the line as quickly as possible.

Only when his best friend, the only thing that had been shielding him from the boggart, had left the spot in front of him, did Albus realize that it was now _his_ turn to face the dark creature. He forced himself not to look at his dad and stepped forward with shaking legs.

Albus held his breath, as the boggart transformed itself into... his father.

Albus gasped, but he was not the only one. The same noise could be heard from most of his peers- and from his father himself.

Boggart-Harry made a step towards Albus.

"We have tried everything Al." the boggart said. "Your mother and I have been helping you wherever we can and you still continue to be _average._"

Deep down, Albus knew that his dad would never say something like this to him, that he didn't actually think that way... but did he?

"We have shown you nothing but love and acceptance ever since you were sorted into Slytherin," boggart-Harry continued with a stern voice, "and yet you have not made any efforts to become an active part of this family."

Albus knew what his father- no, the boggart- was talking about. He had spent most of the summer break alone, locked up in his room. James and Lily had constantly been outside- playing Quidditch and making mischievous plans with their cousins. But Albus had refused. He had preferred to stay inside. Quidditch had never been his thing. Sports just wasn't something he was good at and it also wasn't something he wanted to get better at. Besides, he didn't even have any fun playing it, which was the whole point of a game, after all.

Rose had visited him from time to time, the two of them were- despite popular believe- still as close as they had been, when they were only five years old. They had stayed in Albus' room, worked on their homework, read books and drew awful sketches of magical creatures. Neither of them could draw very well, but they both liked pretending to be good at everything, and as long as it was just the two of them judging, the distinction didn't seem to matter all that much. Even when they were both at Hogwarts- Albus in Slytherin and Rose in Gryffindor- they would still find time for each other. They would study together in the library or just spend hours walking across the lands of the castle, talking about everything and nothing. His cousin was a Gryffindor through and through and a Weasley on top of that, but she just _got_ him.

"You are nothing like the two men we named you after." boggart-Harry said coldly.

Albus couldn't speak or raise his wand. Hell, he couldn't even think straight and he found it harder to breathe by the minute. He looked up at his father and saw nothing but pure terror in his eyes.

"All this time, we have given you freedom," the boggart said, "we have said nothing about the people you befriend or your behavior over the summer, but this?" he said and pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket. He unfolded it and held it in front of Albus' face. It was a report card.

"How can you fail all your classes?" the boggart shouted, his voice roaring through the entire room "James and Lily have never brought home such low grades," he spat, "but if they did, they would at least have the courage to tell me themselves and not wait for the headmaster to send me an owl."

Albus felt someone take his hand. The hand was small and warm and it took Albus a moment, before he realized that it was Rose who was now standing next to him. She had left her spot in the middle of the queue and had joined him at the front of the classroom. He heard more footsteps coming to stand next to him.

Scorpius was standing by his side again, along with the rest of his Slytherin peers. And then, slowly, the Gryffindors joined them and together, all the students were forming a horizontal line in front of Albus. He heard the familiar sound that indicated that the boggart was changing its from and then, he heard a louder noise and knew that the boggart was back in his father's cabinet.

Silence filled the small room. All eyes darting between Harry Potter and his son.

"Class dismissed," he heard his dad say and one by one, the students left the room- all the students, except for Rose and Scorpius.

Albus didn't dare to look at his father. He felt utterly small and useless, standing there, in the middle of a now almost empty classroom, with his wand arm hanging limply by his side. He kept his eyes trained on the ground and tried to steady his breathing.

He felt a hand come up to his shoulder for the second time that day, and this time, it was his _real_ dad, who was standing right in front of him.

"Could you two give us a minute?" he heard his father say to Rose and Scorpius. "Albus and I need to talk."

He felt Rose squeeze his hand, as if to ask if it was okay for them to leave, and Albus gave her a small nod, before raising his eyes to meet Scorpius'. The two of them looked at each other for a moment, both carrying a peculiar sort of expression on their faces, before Rose wordlessly let go of Albus' hand and wrapped it around Scorpius' instead, leading the other boy out of the classroom.

The door closed with a creak and Albus felt as if his two best friends had locked him in a prison cell.

"Sorry," he muttered

He wasn't quite sure what he was apologizing for. Was it the fact that he had more or less humiliated his father in front of a room full of students, who would surely owl their parents that same evening, to let them know that the greatest fear of Harry Potter's son, was in fact the Boy Who Lived himself? Was it, because he had failed to defeat the boggart by himself... or was it everything that boggart-Harry had just accused him of?

"Albus, look at me." Harry said and waited until his son complied, before he raised his voice again. "You don't seriously believe anything that boggart just said, do you?" he asked, concern written all over his face.

Albus wanted to answer his father, tell him, that he knew that everything that had come out of the boggart's mouth had been a lie, but he couldn't bring himself to, so he settled for a shrug.

"I would never think anything like that about you." Harry stated quietly and placed both of his hands on his son's shoulders, when the boy lowered his head again. "Never, Albus."

"I guess, I just..." he started, but a lump in his throat prevented him from speaking.

He looked his father in the eyes, and realized that they were not cold and accusing, like the boggart's had been, but that they were instead warm and held a sadness that Albus had never seen in them before.

"I just don't want to be a disappointment." he finished lamely.

Realization dawned on Harry's face and he let out a shaky breath, before rubbing his eyes and leading his son to the back of the classroom, where each of them sat down on one of the abandoned chairs.

"You could never be a disappointment." Harry said after a short while. "Your mom and I will always be proud of you. We will always love you, no matter what you accomplish. All we want is for you to be happy."

Albus gave a slight nod and looked at his father. Harry wrapped an arm around his son and pulled him close. Tears were threatening to leave Albus' eyes and Harry felt the same stinging sensation behind his own eyes.

"I want to be the person you come to first when you are afraid, Albus, not your biggest fear." he said and reached up to ruffle his son's hair.

"I'm not afraid of you," Albus said, "Not really."

"Then what makes you believe that I would ever think of you like that?" Harry questioned.

He had talked to Albus about his sorting on multiple occasions, had tried to make his son understand that he didn't care what house he belonged to and yet, Albus had never seemed convinced.

"I just feel like it's a lot." Albus mumbled, he had started fiddling with a loose thread of his sleeve and was now ripping it apart.

"What do you mean? 'A lot' what?" his father asked.

"Pressure and expectations... I know you always say that there are none and that I should just be myself, but you can't really think that." he trailed off and kept his eyes focused on the wooden floor again.

Harry still looked as puzzled as he had five minutes ago, but this time, he didn't say anything and instead waited for Albus to start talking again.

"James is way better than me at everything and Lily will be too once she gets here." he sighed. "I am just-"he stopped again, "I am just not what your son should be like. I shouldn't even _be_ there."

"Albus," his dad said quietly, "Don't _ever_ say that again."

Albus felt his dad squeeze his shoulder, and when he looked up, he was shocked to see that there were in fact tears glistening in his father's eyes. Suddenly, he felt awful and before he realized what he was doing, he reached for his father's hand. It felt odd, far more strange than it should have felt, for a 13-year old to share an emotional moment with his dad, but neither Albus nor Harry were good at talking about their feelings and usually depended on the rest of the family to lead such conversations.

"I love you all the same." Harry began. "You and James and Lily, you are all- perfect." he said, never once taking his eyes off Albus, to make sure that he was really listening.

"I don't ever want you to believe anything else." he said "You don't need to live up to anything, you can be whoever you want to be- do you understand?"

"Yes." Albus said and for the first time in his life, he actually believed it.

They remained seated like this, Harry having wrapped an arm around his son and Albus leaning into him. Harry knew that this would most certainly not be the last conversation of this nature that he would have with his son, but right now, Albus was _fine_, they were both fine.

That same afternoon he would have a discussion with Ginny and her eyes would well up with tears, at the thought of her son's boggart. Harry didn't know how long it would take Albus to truly feel happy with who he was, but he knew that they could work through it, as father and son, as a family.

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Thank you for reading :) If you enjoyed the story please leave me a review and tell me what you liked and what I need to work on. English is not my first language and I don't have a beta, so I am sorry if there are any grammar or spelling mistakes ;)


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